Scars
by Cythieus
Summary: Fire Emblem: Three Houses - Claude and Edelgard have been meeting up late at night in secret with one caveat: that he not ask her to remove her shirt or coat. When things come to a head and she reveals a long kept secret. Very obvious Edelgard x Claude. Spoilers for the Black Eagles route of Three Houses.


Thick fog that had rolled in sometime after supper was definitely in their favor. It was dangerous to wander about in the mists, in years past students who were less than familiar with Garreg Mach ramparts had found them self fallen from high up only to be discovered dashed on the rocks below sometime later. That fact coupled with the rumors of spectral scythe wielding riders and all manner of ghosts would be enough to dissuade even the most pious of late night visitor—though Edelgard knew the source of ghost stories to be sitting on the pew next to her with a small grin on his face as he peer down into an open hymnal pretending to be engrossed in it's contents.

In truth, Claude was probably about as devoted to the Church of Seiros. She could guess as much by his action; it didn't do one any good to in open opposition of the church, especially if they were poised to lead a sizable chunk of Fódlan.

The Archbishop would never allow it.

Claude clamped his hand shut, closing the book at the spine and turned the devilish grin toward her.

"You're late," Edelgard said.

"Good evening to you too, Princess."

"I was beginning to think that you weren't going to show," she said.

Claude stowed the book on the rack below the chair in front of him and scooted to the side. His dark hair was wet from the evening mists or the bath—it was hard to tell. There was a spicy fragrance in the air around him, Edelgard had noticed it from the moment that he slid to sit at the other end of the long pew, but it had only grown in intensity as he moved nearer.

He was out of uniform, but not in sleep clothes either. He wore an off-white tunic with laces criss-crossing over the front opening of the collar, though the neckline plunged to a ridiculous depth despite that. His pants dark and seemed to shimmer in the dull light cast by the candles high above.

"Nonsense. Barring some urgent matter I promised you that I would come," he said.

"When is it urgent for you to take notice of me, Claude? Please, enlighten me. Because I seem to remember you pretending not to notice me while talking to a young villager in the town. She couldn't have been more than sixteen at that…" Edelgard said as the skin of her brow tightened instinctively.

Claude shrugged. "I was just being friendly. Besides, you didn't want us to be a serious thing. You won't even let me into your room for Seirossake."

"How would it look if I were to be seen canoodling with the future head of the alliance behind closed doors? What we're actually doing is the best of the things that someone could assume…Lord Volkhard von Arundel would have a field day with the information, no if we're to be caught I would rather it be plain to see what was actually happening."

"You've got everything figured out, huh?" Claude asked, his hand sweeping away the white blonde hair that covered the side of her neck nearest him.

Edelgard leaned nearer to him, tilting her head away as she spoke. "I'm a private person, but I would also rather not hide things which I don't have to." Her voice became light and airy, almost turning into a sigh as Claude pressed his lips to her neck. She stifled small noise as he wrapped his arms about her waist and pulled her tight. There was a rush of shock and a vulnerability in that first moment. It was always there.

A lifetime of assassination attempts and being the sole heir to an empire made one cautious to say the least, but something about the danger of trusting someone like this always sent her into a maddening panic that she could only describe as delightful in a way few things were.

Claude moved for the ruffled decorative collar that she still wore, moving his fingers through the folds of fabric to locate the buttons. His kisses inched up her neck to her jawline, slowly making their way toward her mouth.

"The shirt stays on," she said lightly. Her voice was little more than a whimper and she couldn't believe the words had come out of her like that. "It stays on," she repeated more forcefully. "Remember?"

"Okay," Claude said.

His fingers grazed her breast through the space between two buttons, but he moved his hand to touch her over the shirt. It was like he never broke from what he had set his mind to. Sure, she had more than her fair share of partners in the past, but nothing she said to Claude broke his mood; no action she requested or refused surprised him. Over the past month and a half he had tried to get her to remove her top, at the start of each rendezvous he would calmly go for the strings or buttons near her neck. When she told him to stop he did so immediately and without question.

Edelgard reached down the side of Claude's leg, her fingers brushing along his thigh until she came to sizable mound pressing tight against his pants. She played at the fabric that was barely concealing him with her fingernails, teasing him to the point that she could feel him stirring against her hand, wanting to grind himself into her palm and into other places.

The thought that this could be some attempt to play lull her into a false sense of comfort and kill her crosses her mind again. It crosses her mind when she walks past the rough looking man in the streets or a bashful maiden selling flowers or meets anyone new for the first time. It crosses her mind when old acquaintances act suspicious.

Lord Arundel had eyes and ears everywhere. He would probably do anything to wrest authority from the Emperor, including kill the heir if things came to that.

Edelgard wrapped her fingers around Claude's cock as best she could with it pressed to his leg and imprisoned beneath the fabric of his pants. She moved her fingers up and down the sides of it, trying not to think about the plots of her uncle or the awful things of the past.

Besides, Claude was much more likely to be manipulating her for his own whims than that of someone else.

His fingers found their way between her legs and she spread them apart. Claude leaned back to look into her face, everything around him was a hazy blur. "Edie, you didn't tell me you'd left the drawbridge down," he said with a coy smile and a wink that went on purposefully wrong.

_He's playing me_.

She nodded. "Dorothea lost an under shirt during an encounter with a young monk, I found it atop the hedges in the garden. She doesn't know I overheard her fretting about it, but it would be best if I just left extraneous clothes in the room because there's no need to—to," Edelgard bent forward as Claude massaged his fingers around her opening.

"Well you left me some cover and the moat's wet," he said continuing the metaphor as he worked his digits through the tuft of platinum blonde hair above her vagina and then back down over and over again.

Her hands instinctively followed his, moving down to touch his wrist as he worked his fingers around and around her, drawing a rough perimeter around his target. Everything inside of her tightened, every muscle pulled until it felt as if something inside of her might snap. She was forced to rock back against the pew, thrusting herself forward a bit. When she bent back in Claude had moved, his face was down over her crotch. She rested her chin on his back as he looked down at her, he seemed to be dazed like he had been hit with some vicious surprise blow. The look was earnest, it reached his eyes, but she still didn't trust him wholly.

Edelgard didn't trust anyone.

If Claude bothered to lift her shirt he would know enough to piece it together. He came off as lazy, but she knew that was a deception. The Alliance wouldn't let a someone so lacking in ability take the reins.

Edelgard yelped, biting down into the back of Claude's shirt to muffle any further sound. She shut her eyes against him, willing herself to ride the wave of sensation that ricocheted through her body. He had stopped simply moving his fingers in a random circle now and had actually taken to pushing them inside of her slowly while his thumb rubbed the hooded knot of sensitive flesh above her opening.

There was certainly one ability that he didn't mind showing her.

His fingers worked inside of her, churning their way around with soft, wet noises that only grew in intensity as he continued. It was leaking out of her, had been since he slid two fingers inside. Now it was running under her butt toward the back of the pew. These clothes were freshly washed she'd just put them on, though it was a small price to pay.

It had been too long since she took time to herself and even longer since she had someone to help. For the last little while now Claude had been that willing participant, but this couldn't go on this way. He would want to know more and Hubert wouldn't be able to just scare him away.

She let out a breath and gasped another one in. "Claude…" The word barely managed to escape her throat through her sigh. "Claude, what?"

He rolled her onto her back, taking her by surprise and causing her to let out a yelp. He pushed her onto her side and pinned her hips to the damp pew, spreading her legs open with fingers still coated with the slick fluid that had caused the mess. Claude planted a string of kisses along her inner thigh, his thin braid etched a path just to the side of his lips and tickled her just enough to force a smile out of her.

"Idiot! You have to warn me…"

Her words stopped as he burned his face in her mound, his nose was almost obscured by the tuft of nearly white hair, but she could see his eyes looking up at her as his tongue lashed out against the narrow opening before he moved up to lick her clit.

"Bastard…" she said as her head dropped back against the pew and he continued to lick furiously for several moments before saying something that was muffled against her skin.

It felt so good, but what had he been trying to say? Edelgard rocked her hips against his face, feeling his chin push into the narrow strait of skin just below her vagina.

"What did you say?" She managed.

Claude raised up onto his knees a little, smiling devilishly as he answered. "I said ' _what was that again, Princess?'_"

Edelgard conked him on top of the head with the heel of her hand. "I hate you," she said before grabbing his hair in her fist and forcing him back in between her legs. As he ate her she could feel him snickering to himself.

* * *

Edelgard leaned against the weathered masonry of the chapel as he dumped the water from the well's bucket over his face and rubbed it in. It didn't matter; for days after their last two encounters he swore he could still taste the subtle hint of her in every bite of food he took and smell her on his fingers and upper lip. There was something intoxicating about her, something that she couldn't have been in control of—not consciously.

What was it that the weird von Varley girl had blurted out about carnivorous plants that one time? They lure prey in with their scent and snap shut. Well, Claude had to admit there were worse ways to die than being crushed between Edelgard's thighs.

"Really Claude, it wasn't that much of a mess…" she said. She had stepped closer to him now, but he didn't hear her.

"You must be cold," he said with a smile.

"Ugh," Edelgard was a few paces away. She crossed her arms and turned away from him.

"I'm serious, you could sit on the edge of the well while I toss a bucket or two on your…situation. We'll let the night air blow it dry," Claude said.

He could feel her eyes narrowing at him through the darkness. "If you're going to pick on me…"

"Calm down, I didn't mean anything by it," he said as he brought his hands up behind his head. The fog had began to lift. It was definitely better than it had been when he first arrived. He could hardly tell where the chapel building was. "Was that Hubert I saw on the ramparts?" He asked.

Edelgard studied him, he could feel her eyes. Finally she answered. "Yes."

"Wouldn't it be weird if he heard all of that?" Asked Claude. "I mean, he probably heard some of it. He definitely heard when…"

"It's of no concern…he doesn't mind. He has a duty to do, after all," she said.

"Maybe. Or maybe your servant is so loyal you can't tell him no. You didn't know he was out here did you?" Claude asked.

Edelgard, without missing a beat responded. "It can be difficult for those without loyal retainers to understand the minutiae of this life. You get used to it." Her voice boomed with an authority that was normally regarded for their public interactions. "I overheard you talking about not being born in the lap of luxury…"

"Funny, I didn't say that when others were around. Or even in a public space."

"You speak rather loudly. You really ought to be more careful, Claude." Edelgard pressed her body to his now, her fingers fumbled with the buttons of his pants. Her eyes were brimmed with tears and fatigue, it was very late.

Does she sleep? Is she ever really unguarded or vulnerable?

Claude stiffened, hoping she didn't notice. "Since you know so much about me I've got a question for you—why can't I see what's under your shirt?"

Edelgard was halfway to being down on her knees, her hand was just about to free his cock—but she stopped, frozen stiff.

"Even the shiest maiden I've bedded, even the ones scarred by unfortunate circumstances, would let me see their body. You protest every time. In fact it was the first thing you tried to subtly suggest to me…"

"We're done here," Edelgard said bounding to her feet and turning to go.

"Wait just a minute Princess…" Claude grabbed her shoulder and, well he didn't mean to, but her top was possibly not fastened enough and it popped open.

Something flared to life inside of Edelgard, her crest, it must have been. She tugged him at the arm, hoisting him over her shoulder before he knew what was happening and throwing him flat to the ground. It all happened to fast that it couldn't have been more than her rawest instinct.

He could feel himself slipping away as he lay there staring up at the stars above blurring into streaks.

Edelgard's scream sounded so distant. "Dammit. Claude."

He was being moved, two people carried him along. For a brief moment he hoped she'd at least put his dick away. It was cold out.

"…hurt. I'd say it's an emergency…" Her voice. How far had they moved. Everything was like he was seeing it through water.

"Should we really involve an outsider?" Hubert?

"Should you really be questioning me?" Edelgard again.

Claude opened his eyes to see a soft smile set between pale, rosy cheeks. Mercedes. Her messy blonde hair was tied off to the side in a haphazard knot and, rather awkwardly her breasts were smashed up against him as she worked to pack a pillow down around his neck and shoulders.

"Oh, he's awake Edelgard," Mercedes said in an airy tone as she glanced back. Hubert and Edelgard were at the other side of the room. His room. How had they managed to get in here?

"Mercedes happened to be about on the bridge to the chapel, she helped us get you back here and used magic to get you back into fighting shape. I told her about our sparing match and the nasty fall you took," Edelgard said.

Claude sat up, rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah, you really caught me off guard at the end there. Thank you, Mercedes," he said.

"Mm, it's no problem," Mercedes said. "You should probably take it easy for a while."

"Nah, where's the fun in that?" Claude asked moving to put his feet off the side of the bed.

"Hubert, could you escort Mercedes back to her room?" Asked Edelgard.

"Are you sure?" Hubert asked from his spot in the shadows.

"It's not a problem, I could make my way…" Mercedes started to say.

"Nonsense, Hubert will be a perfect gentleman and see that you get back to your room safely. There's been rumors of ghosts of late," Edelgard said. Claude noticed that at the mention of ghosts that Mercedes's eyes widened. She rocked side to side on her boots with a little wispy smile plastered on her face.

Hubert, without a word of disagreement to what he was to do walked over to Mercedes and offered out his arm, cautiously. When he glanced back toward Edelgard and Claude the hard expression on his face never changed. "If you're ready, Lady von Martritz?"

"Oh, thank you! Have you heard the rumors? Of the specter that's been seen in and around the monastery?" Mercedes said linking her arm through his.

"I have to say that I haven't had occasion to concern myself with such things," Hubert replied as he opened the door of Claude's room.

Mercedes let out a small gasp. "Hubert! I simply must tell you what I found. Annette and I have been conducting something of an investigation…"

Hubert passed a fleeting glance back toward Edelgard.

"I hope you feel better, Claude," Mercedes said with a wave as they passed through the door to leave the room.

Edelgard crossed the room and closed the room, sliding the metal bolt into position to lock the door. The moment that the lock clicked into place her head sank forward. Her hand lingered on the door for a moment. "I'm sorry."

Claude rubbed at the back of his head nonchalantly, thanks to Mercedes there wouldn't even be a bump. "It's no big deal—it's a little embarrassing, but I guess that I can stand to have been defeated by the great Edelgard von Hresvelg. I'm sorry that I pushed you to show me…"

In a flurry of steps, Edelgard rounded on him. "What's your endgame, Claude? What…what are you hoping happens here?" Asked Edelgard.

There was a pause. "I thought we were having fun."

"Did you think this could turn into something else? Did you think that…there would be a possibly of us being together. Or even of there being some kind of alliance between our…"

"I wouldn't finish that sentence," Claude said. "The walls here may very well have ears. Talk of joining the Leicester to the Empire is the kind of talk that starts wars, Princess."

Her pale eyes searched his for something. He knew the look, she was looking for his reaction to her silence and the next thing she was about to say. "Fódlan's peace is a child's straw doll near a fire. It will only take one ember to set it ablaze and the winds are changing direction…" the words are muttered, almost as if they had been hammered into her head like a mantra.

"What do you want, Edelgard?" Asked Claude.

"Freedom for all of Fódlan."

Claude chuckled. "It would seem we agree on something," he said, his eyes smiling, perhaps more apparently than his mouth. Though he doubted that she walked the same path for that freedom.

Edelgard lowered herself onto the edge of the bed next to him, her leg almost touching his. There was still more color in her face than normal and, as he glanced her up and down, he could see that was wearing nothing under that long shirt—the same as before. He must have been out when she buttoned her top back up. She couldn't risk Mercedes seeing when they asked her for help.

Or had she?

The strip of skin running across the tops of Edelgard's cheeks and over her nose reddened, though she tried to keep her tone level. "Why are you looking at me like that? Are you trying to signal for me to do something?"

Claude touched her thigh, her bare skin was still damp. Whether it was from the misty night air, sweat or what had transpired earlier he couldn't tell. His hand ghosted further up her leg, his wrist pushing the hem of her shirt against her lower abdomen. Her teased at the edges of her labia, tracing a path along the slick opening before his index and middle finger parted and moved in.

Edelgard sighed, the weight of her body collapsing against. Her hips rocked, trying to guide him further and further.

"Cla**ude…" Her breath washed over the nape of his neck as she spoke. She moved her hand to grab Claude's. Her eyelids sunk. "Please." She guided his strokes; longer and deeper so that they lingered inside of her and were excruciatingly slow each time he pulled out. **

He was kissing the side of her face now, he could taste the sweet smelling oil she had rubbed on her skin. The little flyaway hairs that streamed down past her ears brushed at his face. "What are you trying to hide?" He whispered.

"Not now…not,"

There was a subtle squish sound inside of her. She was unimaginably wet, his fingers glided through her with ease. The creamy substance inside of her coated his hand, frothing out into his palm. Hearing her breathing against him and tasting her skin was making him hard. His cock tightened against the inside of his pants. He touched himself with his other hand, rubbing down on it so that a jolt of sensation rolled through him.

"What could be that bad?" He managed finally. "From what I've seen…and it's plenty, you've got a beautiful body."

Her hips rocked in time with his hand, but she didn't answer with anything but a series of soft moans. After several moments she tugged his hand away, moving to undo Claude's pants. Edelgard got on her knees in front him and pulled his cock through his pants and over the top of his small clothes.

She pushed her white hair back over one shoulder with her hand as she rolled the soft skin that encased his dick up and down slowly. Edelgard dragged the head of his cock down the side of her cheek as she let out a small sigh. "What do you want to do with me?"

He touched the top of her head, running his fingers back through her hair. "I want to hear the truth."

Edelgard's tongue danced around the top of his penis, probing at the hole for just a moment before she took him fully into her mouth. Her mouth was warm and wet. He could feel her teeth brushing against him ever so slightly, her tongue moving around. His muscles pulled tight as she pushed him back as deep as he could go.

At some point Claude had closed his eyes, he didn't know when. It was too much to take in what she was doing and sight and sound. She forced herself down on his dick all the way and he could feel himself in the back of her throat. Her body tried to gag and couch, but tighten around his cock.

"Yeah…" Claude said.

He opened his eyes to see her sliding her lips up and down on him, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Mmmhm," she pulled her lips away from him a stringy trail of spit lingering down from her glistening bottom lip, connecting them briefly before falling away. Her hand kept working his shaft.

"Are you sure that Hubert won't be back?" Claude asked almost as suddenly as the thought of being caught popped into his head.

"He would have returned by now," she said.

They made eye contact and held their gazes for a long time. He couldn't tell what had happened, maybe she was tired of hiding or maybe she was drunk off of the night's events. Too drunk off of the excitement to push back against his line of questioning. He hadn't planned on pushing the issue again, but as he looked into her face he could tell that he had won. And that was something that he had a feeling many people didn't get to say when dealing with Edelgard.

Edelgard cocked her head to one side, wrapping her lips around just the underside of his shaft and moving up and down on him with her tongue just teasing the meridian that ran the length of his dick.

As Claude fumbled with the buttons of her top she didn't protest, she just aimed her eyes up to look at him. She stopped what she was doing, watching intently as he pulled her shirt open to reveal her bare breasts. She hadn't bothered to wear a bra, of course because she hadn't intended to take this off. With a bra on there would have been no way for her to feel him touching her. And she loved to have her breasts squeezed and pressed down flat when he was on top of her.

There was a palpable tension in the air as he brushed the red button down shirt open to reveal the skin of her chest. The skin between her breasts was splotchy and darker starting at the same height as her nipples. There was a subtle rise to the afflicted area and below her breasts around the top of her stomach were smaller cuts, deep and sloppily done without regard for how they healed. Healing magic made it unlikely these had come from battle, so what caused them.

Claude ran his fingers over the largest scar, moving down right until he was between her breasts.

"What…who did this?"

She didn't answer and instead tightened her grasp around his shaft until the head bulged and turned purple. Now she wouldn't look directly into his face, instead she had chosen to keep her eyes low and seal her lips at the crown of his cock.

"Edelga—" the word was caught in his throat as she pumped him harder. Here hair flopped down over his partially exposed thighs and he could feel her coughing and sputtering over him. He could feel her tongue lashing out.

There was a reckless disregard in how she took him in, as if breathing didn't matter anymore and gagging was just something meant to be ignored. Claude almost forgot that he could no longer see the scars running down her chest. He neglected to ask the questions again. Maybe this was the only answer that he could expect?

Claude grabbed her white-blonde hair in his fast, clutching it to the side of her head. There was no need to guide her on or urge her forward. He didn't have it in him to exert that much control at this point. But he did see her pale blue eyes peering up at him, when her nose was nestled in his pubic hair and her had pressed into his balls he saw her staring for a moment before she noticed that he noticed her.

Her eyes promptly shut and she continued to suck him off.

She moved aside, coughing to the point that she was almost choking as her arm pumped up and down with his cock sliding between her fingers lazily. Edelgard fought to catch her breath for several seconds, one hand still working him over as the other raked its way over her nipples and down between her breasts.

Claude came suddenly enough that he didn't make a sound until the first blast landed on Edelgard's forearm. His breathing was fast and shallow as he pitched his hips forward, pushing his cock through her hand.

Edelgard let out a gasp of shock before moving to suck the rest of his seed out of the source. She was careful, deliberate. He had seen this kind of dedication from her before, but he didn't know where from. As his facilities ebbed in and out between orgasmic spasms he realized: this was the same look she had during sparing, during mock battles.

When she was finished, a small trail of cum dribbled from her lip. She pushed it into her mouth with back of her hand, licking it away before getting onto her feet. There was a decanter of water on the shelf that was reserved for quick late night drinks. She poured it into a stray glass and downed the whole thing.

For a long while Claude felt like a warm blob just suck to the bed, unable to move or affect the world in any way other than his vapid observation. Edelgard's shirt hand off of her shoulders now and was up around her waist enough that her ass was exposed. Her butt wasn't too large or small, but it was round and firm. He wanted her again now, he wanted this new exposed Edelgard. He needed to be inside of her.

* * *

She poured a second glass of water and drank it down. There was s shallow soreness in the back of her throat. That subtle, salt and sweat taste of him still filled her mouth. Edelgard had been a bit too enthusiastic with him. Had he put her in this position just to get information out of her about the scars that marked her body? Had he known already? From what she could tell there was at least one other person at this school who had a similar experience with blood reconstruction surgery.

The weight of two crests was too much for the average person to handle and there were clear clues to it having been done.

Cladue's feet touched the floor and she could feel the room shift. With each step he took toward her the wooden slats creaked beneath them. A warm hand touched her shoulder and when she started to turn, Claude pulled her back to him. His cock was still semi-hard as it pressed against her ass.

He swept her hair aside.

"What are you doing?" Edelgard said, sounding more frustrated than she had meant to.

His hands wrapped around her body, one clutched at her breast desperately while the other one moved over the scarred skin that ran down the center of her chest. Claude's lips brushed against the side of her face just under her ear. He kissed his way down her neck in a straight line.

On instinct she thrust her ass against him, mashing his dick between them in the process. A small wimpier escaped from somewhere deep inside of her, becoming a guttural soon like something that she couldn't control. They ground their bodies together; she let go of the water glass dropping it to the floor. He dropped his hands to her waist and she let him guide her over to the bed.

Claude pushed her onto the bed, climbing on top of her. She glanced back over her shoulder from her position laying down to see him holding the base of his cock and readying himself to enter her. Edelgard pushed herself up onto all fours. Claude rubbed himself on her clit before pushing himself inside of her.

Edelgard shut her eyes and sighed as she tightened herself around his dick. He pumped into her; his chest to her back and one hand wrapped around under her stomach, brushing against the bottom of the scars. A warm, dull pleasure formed inside of her and just grew with each thrust. Had Claude planned this out? He couldn't have known she would throw him on the ground, that they would have ended up here with him.

A spasm of pleasure shot through her.

"Yes…" she muttered.

She brought her hand up under herself to grab at his, his arms still around her waist threatening to graze their way past the badly healed wounds that she had tried to keep secret so long.

In a flurry of movement they fumbled together, some unspoken desire to change positions driving them. She climbed into Claude's lap, her nipples erect and pushing into his warm slick chest. He kissed her shoulder and down her collar bone toward her breast, passing right along the edge of the scar. He wasn't avoiding it like she thought that he would and his reaction seemed more genuine concern than the disgust that she would have expected.

She bounced on his lap, her body shuddering as they clapped together. Claude held her around the back of the ass, his face pressed to her skin as if he just needed to be nearer to her. As if he just needed to be as close as possible.

Edelgard laughed at nothing in particular, at least nothing that she could readily identify.

"What's so funny?" Claude asked, his voice almost a hum. His words spoken right against her bare chest.

"Nothing."

"You never told me what happened," he said before grunting. He was running out of breath. "Please."

His hand grabbed her chin, holding her so that she was looking right into his eyes.

"Everyone asks where you came from. How some no-name bastard of a house noble becomes the heir—no one ever asks how a princess with five older brothers and three older sisters became the prospective empress," Edelgard said.

"You're one of nine siblings?"

"Eleven…if you don't count Dimitri."

Claude shook his head, seemingly still in a haze from their sex, but slowly coming out of it. For her part, Edelgard was still moving on top of him; rocking her pelvis back and forth more out of habit than anything at this point.

"Why does no one ever talk of them?"

"They were killed by the same people who gave me these scars," Edelgard said.

"Bandits or some kind of…assassination attempt?"

Edelgard shook her head. "I wish that I could say it was something so impersonally motivated."

"What then?"

"Some people will do anything to assure that the _goddess's gifts_ are firmly in their control, those same people are in part the ones who keep their oppressive boot on Fódlan's neck," Edelgard said.

Claude was silent for a while, but she could feel what he was thinking coming. She could see how his jaw was clenched as he worked the words over inside his head. "Then let me help you, you help me. You don't have to do this alone, I'm sure you know that you can't do whatever it is that needs to be done alone."

"I dare say, I don't think you have the stomach for what needs to be done," Edelgard said.

His expression darkened and they stayed together the rest of the night, even after the sex was over. They laid in the bed together, the golden light of candles giving the room a gloomy look. Everything seemed aged now, like she was looking back at it through a lens.

* * *

One day, years from now she would spare Claude's life on a distant battlefield—not solely based on their time together, but based on what he wanted and at the behest of their mutual Professor, Byleth. Hilda, Lysithea, and some of the others would lay down arms at his command—having been instructed to do so and she would remember having said this.

_He just didn't have the stomach for it._

People like Claude would be good leaders in a better world, a world that wasn't so cold and unforgiving. Maybe they could have been married and united the land and in time they could have seen an end to the church's influence on the nobility. But a goal like theirs must be uncompromising, you had to be so determined that you'd rather die than live without accomplishing it.

There could be no planning for failure.


End file.
